When in Rome

Good things take time. After all, don't we often quote, "Rome wasn't built in a day," to make us feel better when something difficult takes longer than expected?

As it turned out, this was not the right month for me to learn that I had to "hurry up" my Italian holiday photo book. Yes, I had repeatedly postponed its completion. After all, it is a personal project and as such the deadline is completely capricious allowing me to come and go as I wish. Goals are good, pressure is not. I thought everything was just fine, as long as it was finished by Christmas.

And then a spanner came along. Two weeks ago, you may recall, I got notice that the final 40 pages had to be completed and the whole 100 page book edited, proofed and off to print by the end of this month. I was so overwhelmed that I simply ignored it for a couple of weeks. Hoping, I suppose, that somehow I would find adrenalin induced powers to acheive the impossible this weekend.


By tonight my folly was evident. It took all day to complete this layout - which features my own digitally designed 'paper' - which will be used for all the Rome pages. Now, designing the paper was no easy task. Foundational things rarely are. In this case, I spent several hours going through my hundreds of photos looking for something that would work as a pattern. I originally thought marble, or columns. Then I saw a photo I took of the pathway into a recently discovered banquet hall in the Roman Forum. At the time I took it my thought had been that this was truly ancient paving that we were trodding upon, so I paused and snapped a photo of the worn mosaic style stones. The photo was modified in 'paint' mode and then made a bit transparent to help fade it back. The same overlay as on my Tuscany pages was applied, recoloring to match the new colour scheme. Voila. I just love serendipity! The rest of the layout just fell into place!

Having said all that, while today was focused on this layout, it was hardly just about this layout.

I also spent an hour or more with each of the following:

• walking our dog to the vet for an emergency visit (he is fine now, thanks!)



• monitoring our bathroom renovation (sadly the toilet didn't get installed today - wrong one delivered)
  
  
• processing my CM order



• doing some background work for my job



• chatting on the phone with a sick friend who couldn't join me for lunch as planned



• doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen and cooking dinner



• catching up with the kids and hubby when they got home
  
  
• writing a few friends by email and on FB, and
  
  
• accidentally purchasing my first free kindle book on Amazon (don't ask!).

And, oh yes, I made some brownies, too! To cut the stress. And because I needed chocolate since the adrenalin had not kicked in. Yes, I am an emotional eater. After all, comfort food is ... comforting.

So that really only left a few hours for my digital scrapping! Isn't that how it usually works when you 'work from home'?

So, sometime after 10pm the layout was finalised and approved by family. Now, only 39 more pages to go.

Heart racing. Breathing shallow. Nope. Sanity prevails. Just because "all roads lead to Rome" doesn't mean I have to go there right now! So I am leaving Rome. I am going back to Tuscany to finish polishing it off. After I send that book off to be printed, I will return to Rome and Venice - and the rest of that wonderful holiday as Volume 3. After all, one of the best things about travelling is remembering it later.

I intend to enjoy that process to the fullest extent possible. I think the Italians would approve. In fact, they might say, "Rome wasn't built in a day - take-a your time!"

Salud!

Products used in this layout:
Colour modified freebie overlay from Creative Memories. For instructions on how to make extractions (or embellishents) see my webinar link at right.

Overlapping Life Layers

It is interesting to look back over a life and see how it shifts and changes – and where it likes to rest and return. This blog, while a step into something new for me, is also very likely to simply reinforce all that has gone before. So I’ve been thinking about how life often overlaps itself even as it moves forward.

Therefore as my first posting I’ll indulge in a little backward glance at one of my overlapping life layers.

Back in the 80s my path crossed with a dynamic lady named Joan. She introduced me to her world inside the music industry. For the next several years we worked collaboratively on a range of album covers and related products. Below is the first album cover I did with her. The last project we did together included packaging for a CD – a new thing at the time! The 80s were a great time to be active in the world of graphic design - and to have it coupled with the creativity and energy of the music industry made it one of the most interesting and fun times of my life.

About 15 years later as a SAHM on the other side of the world, ‘deliberate’ scrapbooking entered my life to stay. Working on layouts (even to this day) reminds me of the 12 ¼ inch square format of the album covers I did with Joan. It is a great format for design!

The covers were one thing, but the liner notes were often the greater challenge from a layout perspective. Getting all the lyrics and the notes and any extra photos and graphics to fit the space caused more than a few headaches! But it was all fun. Words, photos, design. I love it when they come together in one place!

I am glad that the work I did in the 80s returned to me 15 years later in the form of scrapbooks. And now with this blog I can celebrate and share the fun with you.

Click on the photos below for a bigger image.